Online Image Collections

A collection of various images from rare Hawaiian & Pacific texts in the UH-Mānoa library collections. To find images specific to warfare and weapons, click on "browse" tab and then "browse by category," then scroll down to "weapons" and click link.

Search across the digital collections of several different New Zealand organizations. Many of the images include information on their original published source (often these will be primary source materials). Best to try several different search terms, "weapon," "war," "warfare" and etc. Includes early European voyaging art, early photography and so forth.

The Museum of New Zealand's online Historical Photo Collection includes numerous high-resolution images of weapons, often with detailed descriptions. Search "weapon" using the "search only images" option.

Photos and information for 400 artifacts held in the Australian Museum. Search for either "weapon" (use the singular) or "warfare" to bring up images of weapons from throughout the Pacific (the collection is weighted toward Melanesia, but does include Polynesia and Micronesia as well). Note: You will get differing results by searching "weapon" and "warfare" -- be sure to search both.

Print Resources

Click on the highlighted titles below to see where you can find copies of these books and journals in the Library. Check Locations! Items in the Voyager catalog marked UH Mānoa: Hamilton Pacific Reference or UH Mānoa: Hamilton Hawaiian Reference can be pulled directly off the reference shelves in the Hawaiian & Pacific reading room. For items marked UH Mānoa Hawaiian Collection or UH Mānoa Pacific Collection, request retrieval through the "Get This Item" link in Voyager. (Click here for instructions on how to request books using "Get This Item.") for information on how to search for library materials, click on the Research Strategies tab above.

Basic Reference Books

For Hawaiian and Pacific research, all of the same tools exist as for
any other kind of research. There are region- and subject-specific
dictionaries, encyclopedias, bibliographies, histories, newspapers,
academic journals and etc. Below are a few examples, though many more exist. (For more information on finding additional sources, click the "Research Strategies" tab above.)

An extensive compilation of early sources on Tahiti. Although it is written in French, the citations cover works in all languages, including English. (For citations on warfare, see listings under "guerre" in index.)

Volume 1 includes numerous photos of weaponry from Tahiti, Aotearoa, Tonga, Hawaiʻi and the Marquesas. Volume 2 contains the catalog descriptions for each item pictured (these detailed descriptions often include citations to important primary sources of information on the items).

These modern reprints, which cover all three of Cook's voyages, are extremely useful in that they have indexes at back of each volume. Look under Island group names (Tonga, Tahiti, etc.) and Islanders (Tongans, Tahitians, etc.) for references to "arms," "weapons," "warfare," "bows and arrows" and etc.

These books are valuable in that the trace the images that were ultimately published in the official accounts of Cook's voyages back to their original sources. The catalog (volume 3) also includes text from the official accounts as it relates to the images.

Selected Journals

Below is a selected list of major Pacific-related journals. Unless otherwise noted, all are included in the Hawaii-Pacific Journal Index. Articles on Pacific topics often appear in journals that aren't specifically about the Pacific -- for information on finding articles in non-Pacific journals, click on the "Research Strategies" tab above.

A quarterly journal, published by Institute for Polynesian Studies, Brigham Young University, Hawaiʻi Campus.

Online Journals

To search for articles within the below journals, use the Hawaii/Pacific Journal Index. Titles marked by a double asterisk (**) are housed in subscription only databases, and are limited to access by UH-Mānoa affiliates. Mouse over titles for more information.

Issues from Vol. 12, no. 1 (spring 2000) to present are available via Project Muse (access limited to UH-Mānoa affiliates). For open access to back issues (dating from one year prior to present date), use link below to Scholarspace. Current year's issues are only available online via Project Muse.

All back issues, up to one year from present date, are freely available via Scholarspace, the UH-Mānoa digital repository. Current year's volumes are only available via the database Project Muse (access limited to UH-Mānoa affiliates).